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It’s not even 2012 and there is a definite lack of civility in the air. In an election year, we have come to expect this. Negative campaigning is a rite of American elections.

And if you did not know better, you might think the next presidential election was already underway. President Obama, treating Donald Trump like a burr under his saddle, likened Trump (although not by name) to a carnival barker this week. Trump had been hyping for weeks that the president was hiding something by not releasing his original birth certificate. The president did so on Wednesday, saying we needed to focus on more important issues and not “get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.”

That same evening Democratic political consultant Paul Begala tore into Trump for now shifting his attack to Obama’s college records. On Anderson Cooper 360, Begala said that the president was one of the “smartest guys in the world.” He added, “George W. Bush…he went to Harvard and Yale and my German shepherd is smarter than he is.”

It is not just coming from Democrats, of course. Just last night, Trump, who claims he is in the Republican camp and has been rattling lots of cages these days, gave a fierce, off-color speech last night, declaring, “Our leaders are stupid. They are stupid people.”

Obama is right. Sideshows and carnival barkers are distracting us from dealing with the very real and grave issues that our country faces. All sides need to settle down and stop the name-calling.

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